Italians set to face Ukraine in Fed Cup QFs

Tennis Betting Lines

02/03/2012 - Biella, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Italy, which has won three of the last six Fed Cup titles, will host Ukraine this weekend in a best-of-five World Group quarterfinal.

First up on Saturday in Biella, Italian Sara Errani will face Kateryna Bondarenko, while the second opening singles rubber will pit the hosts' Francesca Schiavone against Lesia Turenko on the indoor red clay at Lauretana Forum. Schiavone was last year's French Open runner-up and titled at Roland Garros in 2010.

Sunday's reverse singles have Schiavone taking on Bondarenko and Errani facing Turenko, while the Day-2 doubles will pit an Italian duo of Errani and Roberta Vinci against a Ukrainian tandem of Olga Savchuk and Yuliya Beygelzimer.

Team Italy is captained by Corrado Barazzutti, who also has veteran Flavia Pennetta at his disposal, while the Ukrainians are piloted by Igor Dernovskyi.

The winner in Biella will meet the Czech Republic-Germany victor in April's semifinals.

Italy is 3-0 all-time versus Ukraine in Fed Cup play.

Skybool Tennis Betting News


<< Jankovic will open for Serbs against Belgium
Charleroi, Belgium (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2012 Fed Cup quarterfinal between Serbia and host Belgium will get underway Saturday with a singles match between the visitors' former world No. 1 star Jelena Jankovic and Kirsten Flipken

<< Kvitova ready for Fed Cup action against Germany
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Petra Kvitova will play in Saturday's second opening singles rubber in the Fed Cup quarterfinal between her reigning champion Czech Republic team and a host German squad. Saturday's first singles bo

<< Irsay: Manning not yet cleared by Colts
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said early Friday morning that quarterback Peyton Manning has not yet been cleared to play by the team. Reports on Thursday indicated that Manning has been cleared by

<< Play called for wind in Qatar; tourney reduced to 54 holes
Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The heavy wind that sent scores soaring in round one, became too much in round two. The second round of the Qatar Masters was suspended on Friday due to high winds and unplayable conditions at Doha

<< Blazers lose in Sacramento
Sacramento, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcus Thornton returned from a four-game absence and scored eight of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, lifting the Sacramento Kings past the Portland Trail Blazers, 95-92. Raymond Felton and Jamal

Three-year-olds take spotlight at Tampa Bay >>
Oldsmar, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday gets solidly onto the Kentucky Derby trail with the running of the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes. The 32nd edition of the 1 1/16-mile race has attracted a field of 11 three- year-ol

Cubs avoid arbitration with Garza >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs avoided arbitration with Matt Garza on Friday, signing the starter to a one-year contract. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the Chicago Tribune reported the settlement to be for

U.S. men to face Canada in June friendly >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The U.S. men's national team will be renewing its rivalry with Canada on June 3 when the two sides meet up at BMO Field in Toronto for a friendly. The game will be part of the Centenary celebrations fo

Wizards visit ACC to take on Raptors >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors try to avoid a third straight loss this evening when they welcome the woeful Washington Wizards north of the border to the Air Canada Centre. With star forward Andrea Bargnani sidelined with a calf inj

Nuggets entertain Lakers at Pepsi Center >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Nuggets shoot for a two-day sweep of Los Angeles when they welcome a Lakers team that has struggled on the road this season to the Rocky Mountains. The Nuggets were in the City of Angels on Thursday and summari

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.

Problem with Bears?

Chicago, IL - New Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and star linebacker Brian Urlacher shot down reports of a rift, saying they're simply not true.

"There's nothing between us," Cutler said Thursday, when he reported to training camp. "I just want to put that to rest. There never has been anything between us."

Bet on NFL

Urlacher added: "I never said what I was quoted as saying and that's it. I have a lot of respect for Jay. I think Jay knows that."
Former Bears receiver Bobby Wade caused a stir when he told Minneapolis radio station KFAN-AM that Urlacher used a profanity while questioning Cutler's manhood during a conversation in Las Vegas last weekend. Wade, who now plays for the Vikings, said Urlacher used a profane version of the word "wimp" during the interview that had to be edited out.
go radio station WSCR-AM also reported that Urlacher had to be restrained from confronting Cutler during organized team activities.
"I wouldn't go face-to-face with Brian, anyway," Cutler said. "No, that's never happened. I've hung out with Brian away from the facility numerous times and we've always gotten along."
Urlacher, noting he was limited by a groin injury, denied the reports in an interview with the Chicago Tribune and did it again when he reported to camp.
"I didn't practice this summer, so I don't know how I would fight the guy if I didn't practice," Urlacher said. "We have no problems. I'm excited about football starting. I'm excited to have him as our quarterback."
Why would Wade say that?
"I don't know," Urlacher said. "Maybe he's jealous because we have a good quarterback now."
Cutler said the first he heard of any friction was when he got a call from Urlacher to clear the air. Urlacher, however, said he had already taken several calls from teammates wondering if the reports were true when Cutler phoned.
"He called me and I said, What's up (expletive), what are you doing?'" a grinning Urlacher said, uttering the same word he allegedly used with Wade. "It's so dumb to me that this even got to this point, but it did and then here we are."
better place after going 9-7 and missing the playoffs for the second straight year. They have a franchise quarterback for the first time in decades after acquiring Cutler in an offseason trade with Denver. But there are questions about his attitude following a fallout with Broncos management and new coach Josh McDaniels.
His critics include former Bears coach Mike Ditka and former Indianapolis and Tampa Bay coach Tony Dungy, one of Smith's mentors. Smith, however, said Cutler has been a model teammate so far while denying any animosity with Urlacher.
"There's no issue with Jay and Brian, except Brian and Jay are both excited about being teammates for our club this year," coach Lovie Smith said. "No more than that. We can't spend a whole lot of time on something that isn't true. I have talked to the players. Whenever something comes out, you have to address it, but it's a non-issue."
In some ways, Cutler is getting a second chance in Chicago, an opportunity to repair his reputation.
Smith said another quarterback - Michael Vick - deserves one, although he doesn't see it happening with the Bears, who lack an experienced backup. The former Atlanta Falcons star, who served a 23-month sentence for running a dogfighting ring, said Thursday he is getting close to signing with a pro football team.
"A second chance, like everyone in society who has paid their debt to society," Smith said. "He deserves a second chance. As far as we're concerned, we like this team that we have right now."
Particularly the new quarterback.
"Me and Brian have been on a good relationship since I've been here, and I expect it to continue that way," Cutler said.

Bet on NFL

Mysportsbook.com online online sportsbook accepts Visa & Mastercard